it takes everything in orchid to prevent herself from beginning to pick at her nails, which had been carefully done only days before. her nerves were almost getting the better of her. her maintenance of her nails meant that all of her nauseatingly nervous energy was redirected to her leg, though, which bounced up and down rapidly.

she needs this, they need this. sure, in theory, she could go off, become a solo act, do it without this whole duo-process. she already had an agent lined up for that, one that really only handled single musicians. but she doesn’t want that. she likes jupiter.

remembering her companion, she looks to him. they don’t seem to be doing any better, pacing back and forth in front of the couch. seems they both had some issues with waiting. she could hear little tip taps on the tile, and looked down to see the source; quartz had decided to follow jupiter as they paced, her little claws clacking on the ground. she didn’t seem to realize that jupiter was moving with no intent of going anywhere.

sitting up, she moves to the laptop on the table before her, giving it another refresh. nothing still. no news of denial, acceptance, or anything in-between. dear god.

“it’ll be okay,” she says out loud, not sure whether she’s trying more to reassure jupiter or herself, “we’ve totally got this.” she isn’t so sure, in reality.

she reaches for guppy, who had been curled up close to her. dragging the small creature into her lap, she places a hand on her and pats, hoping it’ll bring some sort of grounding reassurance.

@jupiter

☉

as jupiter picks up little quartz, orchid cracks a small smile. it’s a cute sight, the little pink vulpix in his arms. they seem slightly less nervous while holding quartz, and orchid makes mental note to give the tiny ones some extra treats later, for being such good emotional support.

leaning back against the cushions of the couch, she’s careful to make sure jupiter and quartz have enough room. guppy could be a space-hog sometimes, so she keeps her firmly grasped in her arms.

orchid pauses at jupiter’s admission. they hadn’t really thought that far ahead, at least in terms of negatives. usually, when thinking about a potential future as one-half of a famous duo, they could only think in positive terms. but jupiter brings up a valid point, and it makes even more sense when he mentions that he’s never been traveling.

she hadn’t been many places herself, mainly just across unova a few times, but she’d visited a couple other regions briefly to check in on relatives.

“hey,” she scoots towards jupiter a little, “that’s… that’s a fair point. it’s scary to think about what might happen,” she admits. “but… i think we’ll get used to it. together. we won’t even be alone, we’ll have each other to rely on as we figure everything out. could even be fun, like an adventure of our own. and traveling isn’t that bad, it’s mostly just annoying… a lot of waiting, honestly. and fans, popularity, are scary, i don’t have a great response to that part, but i think it’s one of those things that’ll get better with time.”

they hesitate for a moment, “and there’ll be a lot of good amongst the bad and stressful,” they reassure. “nothing is ever perfect, right? and the payoff… it’ll be great, jupiter.”

they don’t think it over much before they place their hand next to jupiter’s, on quartz, and try to give them a reassuring look.

@jupiter

☉

orchid lets out a small laugh at jupiter’s concession, “i do. i always do,” she says.

her smile fades again, not in a bad way, just in a shift of tone. “it is,” they say, surprisingly, suddenly softly, “it’s a massive one. lifechanging, even. we’re in it together.” she pauses, “i’m glad you could talk to me. that you do.” and she is. she’s happy jupiter felt they could open up to her about this — she knows it’s not the easiest thing to do, and she wants to make it clear to them that she’s a person he can come to. always. she’s undoubtedly got a soft spot for them already.

“i’m here for you. really. and if it ever becomes too much, i’ll still be there. just gotta talk to me,” still softly speaking.

it doesn’t slip past orchid that jupiter’s shifted closer now. she takes this as a sign of approval, a way of letting her know that their closeness wasn’t bothering jupiter. she shifts her hand onto jupiter’s gently. she only rests it there for now, giving jupiter opportunity to move away.

in this moment, she almost forgets all about the email, despite the open laptop sitting in front of them. it’s incredible, really, how easily distracted she could be.

@jupiter

☉